Page:Morgan Philips Price - Siberia (1912).djvu/93

 Rh "How long do holidays last?" "Don't know." Passing on we came to a place where it appeared that eggs were to be sold, and we accosted the owner, who was squatting outside and eating nuts. "Have you some eggs here?" "Yes." "Can you get us some?" "No; the shed where they are kept is locked up." "But can't you go and open it?" "No; it is a holiday." "Well, we will give you a higher price because it is a holiday." "I have not got any eggs at all," was the reply. It was obviously hopeless to do business with anyone in such a mental condition as that, and everybody else we tried was the same. At last, in despair, we hit upon a Jewish bootmaker, and entered a low, dingy room quite unlike the clean Russian houses we were accustomed to. There was no difficulty in getting the Jew to do business, but the quahty of his fare was distinctly below that of his Russian neighbours. All he could produce was a mouldy loaf of bread and half-a-dozen eggs that had seen better days. However, with that and some scraps that we had left from our journey we made our evening meal. On subsequent days it was always a struggle to get food enough to keep us going, as long as the Easter holidays lasted, and as for attempting to make preparations for the further journey it was utterly out of the question until these people awoke from the mental torpor of the religious holidays.

Meanwhile I amused myself as I had done at Krasnoyarsk, in studying humanity as it was exhibited in Minusinsk.

The next day there happened to be a great function at the Greek church in connexion with the celebrations of Easter week. Early in the morning small